ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASEBALL : Empire League : Esperanza Rally Beats El Dorado : Coach Says Team Still Trying to Find Itself, Even After 8-5 Victory

You have a hard time believing Mike Curran, Esperanza baseball coach, when he says that his team hasn’t been playing well for the past two weeks, and that it hasn’t quite jelled this season.

Especially after the Aztecs scored five runs in the seventh inning Wednesday to defeat El Dorado, 8-5, in an Empire League game on the Golden Hawks’ field.

Third-ranked Esperanza trailed, 5-3, entering the seventh but put together five singles and took advantage of a walk and an error to beat fourth-ranked El Dorado and its ace left-hander, Steve Gill.

Tom Redington, Doug Saunders and Jason Moler each had RBI singles in the inning, with Moler driving in the go-ahead run. Rick Lane added a two-run single to cap the rally.

Rick Edwards, who relieved starter Roger Weems in the sixth, retired El Dorado on three fly balls in the seventh to gain the victory.

Still, that didn’t seem enough to convince Curran that the Aztecs, defending Southern Section 4-A champions, have a pretty good team this year, too.

“We’re still an inexperienced team trying to find itself,” Curran said. “We have some talented players, but we haven’t gotten on a real good roll yet. We’ve been winning, but we’re just getting by.”

If a 5-0 record (11-1 overall) in Orange County’s toughest league is Curran’s idea of “just getting by,” you’d have to wonder how far the Aztecs would go if they actually began playing well.

Wednesday’s game should at least enhance team unity. Twice, the Aztecs rallied to take the lead.

El Dorado (4-1, 12-2) went ahead, 1-0, in the first inning when Chris Olsen doubled, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Bret Boone’s sacrifice fly. But Esperanza came back in the third with three runs, two on Moler’s single and one on Fred Ashcraft’s fielder’s choice.

The Golden Hawks countered with three runs in the third, all coming after two outs. Chris Facione singled, Olsen walked and Boone singled to right field for one run. Gill then looped a single to left field to score Olsen, and Boone scored when Bart Goldman’s throw got past Weems and catcher Rick Pressel.

El Dorado added an insurance run in the sixth on Scott Tomko’s RBI single and appeared to be in good shape entering the seventh, as Gill had allowed only three hits and retired seven straight.

But pinch-hitter Jim Short fought off an inside pitch, blooping a single to right, to open the seventh, and Goldman walked. Brent Bish bunted into a forceout at third, but Redington kept the rally going with an RBI single to left.

Doug Saunders then lined a single to center field to score Bish, and Saunders and Redington moved up a base when the ball bounced past Facione in the outfield.

Moler bounced an RBI single over a drawn-in infield for a 6-5 lead and, after Ashcraft’s ground out, Lane lined a two-run single to right to make it 8-5.

Cypress 5, Pacifica 0--Jason Livingston (2-2) threw a four-hitter and struck out five to lead the Centurions (2-2-1, 5-7-1) at Cypress. Pacifica made seven errors, which helped Cypress score four unearned runs.

Los Alamitos 9, Kennedy 5--Mike Kelly hit two home runs and had three RBIs and Randy Hines (4-1, 0.46 ERA) struck out seven in five scoreless innings to lead the Griffins (2-2-1, 6-7-1) at Kennedy. The Fighting Irish are 1-4 in the league.